


How I Hate the Night

by Brumeier



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Exhaustion, Late at Night, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Pre-Slash, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:22:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22396255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: LJ Comment Fic for 80s Book Titles prompt:any, any, Life, the Universe and Everything (By Douglas Adams)In which Evan wants to make sure Rodney gets some sleep, even if it means confessing something he's been keeping to himself.
Relationships: Evan Lorne/Rodney McKay
Comments: 14
Kudos: 57
Collections: Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2020





	How I Hate the Night

Evan checked the time. It was well past two in the morning and most of Atlantis was tucked into bed. The night watch Marines were making their rounds, Amelia was covering the Gate room in case one of the off-world teams needed assistance, and Rodney was in his lab.

“I’m going to do a circuit,” Evan said, standing and stretching. 

Night shift security was exceedingly dull. If he sat in front of the monitors much longer, he’d fall asleep.

“I wouldn’t say no to coffee.” Amelia held out her travel mug, shaking it a little.

“Anything else?”

“That’ll do it. Thanks.”

Evan always started his nighttime security sweep with a trip through the Mess. At that time of night there was only a selection of hot and cold beverages and some snack foods available. He refilled Amelia’s mug – no cream, two sugars – and slipped a packet of chocolate chip cookies in his pocket.

He made his way through the halls, stopping to talk with each Marine who he crossed paths with. He poked his head into the infirmary, which at the moment only had one guest – Corporal Kaye, who’d had an appendectomy earlier that day. Marie was on duty, reading something on her datapad. She gave Evan a thumbs up.

Evan’s next stop was Rodney’s lab. He gave a perfunctory knock before the door slid open. 

“What? What is it?” Rodney blinked up at him, eyes bloodshot. “Major? Is there an emergency?”

“There’s an exhausted scientist who needs to get some sleep,” Evan replied. 

He handed Rodney the cookies, and he immediately brightened. “Chocolate chip? My favorite!”

“You lost track of time again, Doc,” Evan said, pulling over one of the rolling chairs to sit on so he wasn’t looming over Rodney. “It’s late. Let me walk you back to your room.”

Rodney shook his head. “I’m very busy, Major.”

“Everyone needs sleep.”

“’Now the world has gone to bed, darkness won’t engulf my head, I can see in infrared, how I hate the night.’”

“I’m not familiar with that verse,” Evan admitted.

“Douglas Adams,” Rodney said, mouth already full of cookie. “All the problems of the universe solved and still he couldn’t sleep. Well, he was a robot, but that hardly matters. There’s never really any rest for us, is there?”

Evan was only passingly familiar with Adams’ work, but he thought he knew what Rodney was saying. Anyone who’d been in Atlantis long enough had trouble sleeping. There wasn’t a lot of comfort to be had in the dark, which was full of ghosts and regrets and what-ifs.

“You won’t be any use to anyone if you’re exhausted,” Evan pointed out.

Rodney looked blearily at his computer screen. “I just need to –”

“Sleep. You need to sleep. Tomorrow you can get back to solving the mysteries of the universe.”

The brash and blustery Dr. McKay must’ve really been done in, because he shut down his workstation and followed Evan out of the lab. They passed a Marine on the way to the transporter, and Evan handed off Amelia’s mug of coffee.

“Have a good night, sir.”

Rodney was practically asleep on his feet when they got to his door. Evan wasn’t sure he should say what was on his mind; it felt like he was taking advantage of the man at a weak moment. He wrestled with himself for a long moment, but Rodney was swaying in place and that decided him.

“I could come in,” he said. “Sit with you for a little while. Just until you fall asleep.”

“What? Why?”

“Sometimes it’s easier to beat back the ghosts when you’re not alone,” Evan said softly.

Rodney studied him for a long minute and then nodded. They didn’t speak at all after that. Rodney got changed for bed and Evan took off his boots, and they lay down together, close but not touching. It was only a little awkward. And then Rodney closed his eyes and slid his hand across the mattress, his little finger knocking against Evan’s. It seemed only natural to hook them together. Rodney’s lips twitched up in a smile, and in the next moment he drifted off to sleep.

Evan stayed awake a while longer, keeping watch. Keeping the ghosts at bay.

**Author's Note:**

>  **AN:** Title is from a quote in the prompted book. I think Marvin the depressed robot and Rodney have a lot in common. ::grins::


End file.
